Bucilla Christmas Stocking (Christmas Drive)

One of my goals for 2018 was to complete a Bucilla stocking for my nephew who is nearly a year old. The Bucilla kits are part of a family tradition reaching back to my great grandmother's generation. I have a Bucilla stocking that my mom made for me when I was a toddler (can you believe it's held up after all these years?) and I completed the Airplane Santa stocking kit for my boyfriend (who is a pilot) last December.

In January, I started the Christmas Drive stocking kit. I picked this kit for my nephew because it features a big red truck, which I hope will be a hit with the little guy during his childhood. He won't use this stocking every year--my sister in law has a khaki/beige color scheme for her Christmas decorations and this stocking clearly isn't in conformity with that scheme--so it's just for the years that they celebrate Christmas with our side of the family at one of our houses. I'll also make a Bucilla stocking for my sister-in-law so that everyone is included.

Bucilla stockings are made of felt and decorated with embroidered, sequined and beaded appliques. Building up the details that make these stockings so delightful takes time and patience (and a good pair of sharp, detail scissors). I usually work on just one or two pieces per session, which explains why this stocking took five months to complete!

Unlike the stocking I made for my boyfriend last year, this kit calls for a name to be embroidered across the top of the stocking. I gave this a try and felt like my attempt was unattractive and ruined the look of the entire stocking. To reverse this error, I carefully pulled out the name embroidery and then took a trip to the craft store to pick up some gold cording and matching thread. I twisted the cording into my nephew's name, tamping it down with the matching thread for a better result.

Here is a look at the finished stocking:

I'm happy with how this turned out, but if you're working on this kit, I would use dark brown thread, instead of black, to define the muzzle of the teddy bear.